NYT: Web Trolls Triumph, Internet Losing Against Them

NYT: Trolling does not happen in isolation, and the routine, collective path of emotional damage left in trolls’ wake can be devastating.

The Internet may be losing the war against trolls. And unless social networks, media sites and governments come up with some innovative way of defeating online troublemakers, the digital world will never be free of the trolls’ collective sway.

“Troll” is the fuzzy term for agitators who pop up, often anonymously, in comment threads and on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, apparently intent on wreaking havoc.

The daughter of Robin Williams decided to quit Twitter on Tuesday after being hounded by trolls who posted doctored images purporting to show her father’s body with bruises around his neck. “Look at what he...did to himself because of you,” one of the trolls tweeted shortly after Mr. Williams’s suicide on Monday.

Jezebel, the popular feminist news site run by Gawker Media, disclosed that it had been overrun for months by anonymous people posting violent, pornographic pictures in its comments section.

The Saboteur: He hates the site and tries to ruin forums by posting irrelevant nonsense, personal attacks and generally finds ways to derail any discussion.

The Truly Pathetic: He loves/hates the site. He sees it as his personal vehicle for venting his issues.He too, ruins forums by posting irrelevant nonsense, personal attacks and generally finds ways to derail any discussion.

Mmm, trolling does include that, though I've always taken "trolling" to encompass things that are much more benign. Among gaming culture, trolling includes making a clever feint or deceiving or baiting another player.